Quantum Security, Quantum Networking

New testbed aims to secure quantum communication in the Southeast

Avatar of Ivy Delaney
September 28, 2026 by Ivy Delaney

Florida State University will establish a campus-scale quantum communication testbed after securing $2.1 million in federal Community Project Funding from the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The testbed will physically link the central hub in FSU’s Interdisciplinary Research and Commercialization Building with receiver nodes at both the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory.

Researchers plan to test quantum communication performance under conditions mirroring real-world challenges, specifically “strong air turbulence, high magnetic fields and cryogenic thermal cycling.” U.S. Representative Daniel Webster said this investment will “help establish the first quantum communications testbed facility in the southeastern United States.”

FSU Establishes Southeastern Quantum Communication Testbed with Federal Funding

This multi-institutional collaboration uses existing campus fiber resources to transmit and monitor entangled photons, allowing researchers to assess link reliability and refine system performance under controlled, yet challenging, conditions. The system’s reconfigurable optical links will deliberately expose components to environmental stresses, simulating real-world operational hurdles beyond the typical laboratory setting.

Securing $2.1 million, this investment, championed by U.S. Representative Daniel Webster, is intended to position FSU as a leading hub for quantum technology in the southeastern United States and to bolster American innovation in a field increasingly seen as critical to national security. “These resources will help expand their important work and strengthen American innovation.” Researchers will specifically examine quantum communication performance while subjecting the system to conditions that represent significant obstacles to deploying quantum networks outside of controlled laboratory environments.

Suvranu De, dean of the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, emphasized the shift in focus from proof-of-concept demonstrations to practical reliability. “The next frontier is not simply demonstrating quantum communication in an ideal laboratory, but understanding how to make these systems reliable in the environments where they will ultimately operate,” he said.

“This investment gives us a platform to connect fundamental quantum science with engineering validation, workforce development and future partnerships with government, industry and other universities. It is an important step toward secure and resilient quantum networks that can operate in the real world.” The testbed’s design also prioritizes educational opportunities, providing students and researchers with hands-on experience across the entire quantum-networking stack, from photon generation and detection to data processing and network control.

Wei Guo, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and co-director of the FSU Quantum Initiative, highlighted the value of this practical training. Guo also described the project as “an important research infrastructure investment that can support future quantum-networking activities and position FSU for larger-scale opportunities.” This new infrastructure complements FSU’s existing quantum research portfolio, which includes leadership of four major projects under the Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission; these projects focus on developing AI-powered diagnostics for quantum computers and enhancing understanding of atomic nuclei and other quantum systems.

The university’s commitment to quantum technology extends beyond research, with the development of Florida’s first graduate credential in quantum information science and engineering and the establishment of the Florida Alliance for Quantum Technology. “Florida State University leads the nation in quantum science and engineering,” said Guo, emphasising the institution’s ambition to maintain its position as a leader in this rapidly evolving field.

The next frontier is not simply demonstrating quantum communication in an ideal laboratory, but understanding how to make these systems reliable in the environments where they will ultimately operate.

Suvranu De, dean of the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering
More like this
Quantum SecurityCrypta Labs guides OEMs on building quantum-safe random number systems
Quantum SecurityQureca and Paraxiom secure quantum keys with post-quantum gateway
Quantum Computing Business NewsIonQ and SDT team up to bring quantum tech to Asia-Pacific
Quantum CryptographyNanjing University boosts quantum key rates for three-user networks
Stay current

See today’s quantum computing news on Quantum Zeitgeist for the latest breakthroughs in qubits, hardware, algorithms, and industry deals.

Tags:
NIST Quantum Communication
Avatar of Ivy Delaney

Ivy Delaney

Ivy Delaney has been working with neural networks and machine learning since the mid-nineties, back when a couple of hidden layers and a long afternoon of training counted as ambitious. She has watched the field go from academic curiosity to the thing quietly running underneath everything, and she brings that long view to quantum computing. For Quantum Zeitgeist she covers the ground where the two fields meet. That means quantum machine learning and the variational algorithms it leans on, and it also means the less glamorous but more interesting story of classical machine learning already doing real work inside quantum machines, decoding error-correcting codes, calibrating noisy hardware and learning the error models that simulators depend on. She writes about the hardware those algorithms have to run on too, and about the post-quantum cryptography scramble that the same hardware has set off. Her stories typically start with the paper, whether that is peer-reviewed work, conference proceedings or an arXiv preprint, with the source linked so you can hold a claim up against the research it came from. She is unimpressed by benchmarks that will not say what they beat, and by demonstrations that only work in the press release.

Latest Posts by Ivy Delaney: